Anba Markos, Metropolitan of Shubral-Kheima, Cairo, who is currently on a three-week pastoral visit to Riyadh, has been granted the Shield of Gratitude by Secretary-General of the Arab Festival of Tourist Information in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Muhammed al-Amer. Mr Amer warmly welcomed Anba Markos in his “second home: Saudi Arabia”.
For his part, Anba Markos expressed happiness at being in Riyadh, and thanked officials of the Saudi government and the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh for the genuine brotherly love and warm reception they have given him.
Anba Markos is in Riyadh upon invitation by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, for a three-week pastoral visit which concludes on 17 December. During his visit, Anba Marcos held the first Coptic Mass in the Saudi Arabian capital, at the home of a Coptic worker in Riyadh. Mass was performed on a holy board which Anba Markos had brought with him from Cairo to use as an altar.
While in Riyadh, the Metropolitan met Mohammed al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League. Attending were members of the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh. The Saudi-based MWL was for decades charged with spreading the strict Wahhabi school of Islam around the world, but Sheikh Issa recently said that those times were over and that his focus now aimed at annihilating extremist ideology.
Watani International
4 December 2018